Historic
Urban Buildings and Their Settings

Nicola
Adams

Queen
Square, Bristol, until recently a busy main road

It has long been recognised
that rural gardens, landscapes and estates form an intrinsic part of the
significance and architectural value of the historic buildings they surround.
While the settings of smaller vernacular buildings may still be threatened
by development and agricultural onslaughts, there are few country houses
or rural churches whose surrounding landscape is not as valued and appreciated
as the buildings themselves. In contrast, in urban settings, land prices
and economics almost invariably lead development ambitions, and even buildings
of national significance can find their surroundings compromised. Areas
that are not recognised as urban parks or gardens or examples of historic
urban planning are often neglected to the detriment of the historic buildings
they surround. The statutory defence afforded by conservation area protection
often only enforces the rule rather than the spirit of the law. Whilst
the buildings themselves are protected, their surrounding spaces, where
not officially regarded as ‘curtilage’, often remain under threat.

The importance of
setting and urban space around historic buildings is not just a question
of aesthetics. The rich archaeological potential of urban sites is nowhere
more valuable than around those built manifestations of historic urban
life which have survived into modern use. The rigorously defended network
of legal boundaries that have historically defined our cities has promoted
the perception of single, isolated plots, autonomous amongst a city of
others, to proliferate and endure, at the expense of our perception of
the whole. In urban developments, even those based on the conservation
of an historic building, there is often little recognition for the importance
of the built remains as the visible upstanding component of the wider
archaeological fabric of the city. Development adjacent to historic buildings
can, at worst, destroy surrounding archaeological remains for centuries,
or at least deny access to them, and the obligatory rescue archaeology
or watching brief can only partially ameliorate the effects.

The battle for recognition
of the importance of the setting of urban historic buildings is being
fought every day in planning, project development and financial meetings
in towns and cities across the country by those who recognise that the
special qualities of the historic buildings which we value do not begin
and end at the doorstep. Unfortunately, many of these battles are lost
and our architectural and archaeological heritage is the poorer for it.
However, some battles are won and the buildings in question are given
space within which to breathe and an environment where their qualities
can be appreciated.

Blakesley
Hall, Birmingham, after repairs

Blakesley
Hall, new visitor facilities

The
following three case studies illustrate a selection of conservation projects
where the importance of the open spaces around and between historic buildings
has not only been considered but has been identified as a driving factor
in the development of the scheme. At differing stages of completion, they
are offered as examples where, for a combination of reasons such as enlightened
clients and funding bodies and sympathetic and supportive local authorities,
existing spaces, although previously neglected, were reviewed and recognised
as historic assets in their own right.

BLAKESLEY HALL

The first example is
a late Tudor yeoman’s house of c1590 and its grounds at Blakesley, Yardley,
near Birmingham. Blakesley
Hall was previously set in its own farmland but only six miles from the
centre of Birmingham, it is now tightly surrounded by suburban development.
The house has been used as a museum since 1935 and its interior has been
reinstated to its mid 17th century appearance as derived from inventories
of 1648. However, its visitor potential was restricted by a lack of parking
and visitor facilities, as well as by a lack of secondary exhibition space.
The boundaries to the limited formal gardens that remained were poorly
defined and security was difficult to control. The garden did not clearly
respond to the hall and the adjacent, uninspiring housing scheme compromised
views of the building. To the north, Blakesley’s formal gardens are bounded
by playing fields that are held in trust for public amenity, but little
used. The existence of this open space had both detrimental and beneficial
effects on the hall. The playing fields provided a green setting for the
hall but the lack of organised use encouraged vandalism. The gardens provided
an attractive setting for the hall and were used for educational events.
However, the perception of the grounds as not wholly self-contained and
the poor definition between the garden and the playing fields beyond,
prevented the full potential of the site being reached.

A project was proposed
to provide a further gallery, visitor facilities and improved education
space on the site, with increased parking to accommodate the predicted
rise in visitor numbers. The brief required the new development to improve
the perception of the space surrounding the hall and to tackle the problems
of security and vandalism that had been identified. At the same time a
programme of repairs were scheduled for the hall itself.

After the consideration
of many strategic planning options with the client, a scheme was developed
which included a new building carefully designed to complement the hall
and affirm the boundaries of the garden. This new building is L-shaped
in plan and defines the corner of the rectangular site that is diagonally
opposite the hall so providing the enclosure that the gardens needed.
Entrance to the site was relocated to the heart of the new building giving
a sense of arrival and a definite edge between land belonging to the hall
and that of the surrounding suburb. Existing parking within the hall grounds
was relocated and expanded by converting an unused bowling green on the
boundary with the playing fields to a landscaped car parking area. This
enabled a buffer zone to be created between the playing fields and the
hall grounds. The formal gardens were redefined with gravel paths and
planting more in keeping with a 16th century hall. The landscape scheme
includes a large herb garden and fenced boundaries that have been planted
with native hedge species.

QUEEN SQUARE, BRISTOL

Queen Square, which
dates from c1699, was the first residential square to be laid out outside
London, and is lined with a number of 18th century listed buildings including
the Custom House of c1710. Despite its importance, the square was radically
changed in the 1936 when a major arterial road was redirected diagonally
across it. The quality of the space and the graceful setting of the listed
buildings were severely affected by the intrusion of high levels of traffic
and the condition of the square declined; many buildings of considerable
architectural quality stood unlet and unmaintained. The poor regard within
which this urban space was held had a direct negative effect on the fate
of the adjacent historic buildings which were neglected through lack of
occupation and commercial interest.

In 1992 a scheme generated
by the local planning department and backed by English Heritage was instigated
which implemented the removal of both the arterial road across the square
and the accompanying bus routes. The square was restored to its former
layout of diagonal walks of c1776. The scheme, now in its final phase
involving details such as the reinstatement of former boundary walls,
railings and gates to original designs, has improved the quality of this
important civic space and restored its former gentility. An air of prosperity,
which was inherent to the square at the time of its construction for a
group of rich Bristol merchants, has now returned. Occupation of the surrounding
buildings is now almost complete and the benefits to the conservation
and maintenance of the buildings can begin to be observed.

ROWLEY'S HOUSE, SHREWSBURY

Rowley's
House, Shrewsbury, isolated from Shrewsbury's medieval core

Conservation
plans are the most common means by which the significance of the urban
spaces around historic buildings is now identified. If the context of
an historic building is not to be neglected, it is essential that its
importance is fully identified, and conservation plans aim to achieve
this.

This principle has been recognised in the Conservation Plan and
Feasibility Study for Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, known locally
as Rowley’s House. The building is a combination of an early 17th century
mansion and a warehouse and has been the site of Shrewsbury’s main museum
since the 1930s. The museum is in the centre of what was the medieval
merchant quarter of the town. Both structures were originally restricted
in their design by the densely occupied streetscape in which they were
constructed. However, both warehouse and mansion are magnificent examples
of 17th century design and craftsmanship. After a programme of inter-war
slum clearance the building now stands isolated surrounded by a desert
of tarmac-covered car-parking space.

When
the adjacent buildings were demolished, the remaining space was left undeveloped
and was used as a bus terminus before its present incarnation as a car
park. The area around the museum is now rundown and in need of regeneration.
The building itself is unable to accommodate the varied demands made on
modern museums. Desktop archaeological assessments have identified the
open space around the museum as of considerable interest, an asset which
to date has been ignored.

A
conservation plan has been prepared which reinforces the need for the
building to be considered within the context of its site and re-evaluates
the relationship between standing and buried archaeology. At present,
the museum is strangely dislocated from its surroundings and stands aloof
from the remaining medieval street pattern that re-asserts itself beyond
the car park boundary. A feasibility study has also been prepared which
identifies ways in which the site could be redeveloped to enhance the
museum’s facilities whilst weaving Rowley’s House back into Shrewsbury’s
urban grain. The proposed scheme respects the need for public open space
whilst giving structure and definition to the area, replacing the soulless
wasteland that presently exists. It is hoped that such consideration of
Rowley’s House as one artefact amongst a town full of others, both tangible
and hidden, will result in development which restores both a much needed
sense of place and a historic dialogue between structure and space.

If
urban space is to respond to the historic and contemporary buildings that
define it, as illustrated at Blakesley and Queen Square and recommended
at Rowley’s House, our perceptions of buildings as autonomous units must
be broken down. Just as historians have moved on from event-based study
and archaeologists from concentration upon monuments and features, those
responsible for the built environment must broaden their understanding
and input beyond the boundaries of their sites and consider the spaces
between buildings and the city beyond. The complex web of continuous human
occupation that our cities represent, is defined equally by both the solids
and the voids of which they are made. Valliant protection of the former
should not neglect the latter if urban complexity and vitality is to be
maintained.

This
article is reproduced from The Building Conservation Directory, 2002

Author

NICOLA
ADAMS is qualified in architecture,
town planning and archaeology and is a former SPAB Lethaby Scholar.
She presently works as an architect for Niall Phillips Architects.